Intelligence Support to Urban Military Operations
To the eyes of a military planner, a city presents “an elaborate combination of horizontal, vertical, interior, and exterior forms superimposed on a landscape’s natural relief, drainage, and...
View ArticleDoD Seeks FOIA Exemption for Military Doctrine
The Department of Defense proposed a new exemption from the Freedom of Information Act last year for information on unclassified “military tactics, techniques and procedures.” The measure was not...
View ArticleThe Domestic Role of the American Military
The role of armed forces in an open society may be likened to a potent medicine that is life-saving in the proper dosage but lethal beyond a certain proportion. Military forces have proved to be...
View ArticleDepartment of Defense Confronts Climate Change
The Department of Defense is organizing itself to address the effects of climate change on the U.S. military, some of which are already being felt. “The DoD must be able to adapt current and future...
View ArticleDoD Building Foreign Defense Institutions
As part of its international defense cooperation activities, the Department of Defense has long been involved in supporting military institutions in various allied nations. Yesterday, a new DoD...
View ArticleArmy: Rapid Reprogramming Needed for Cyber Ops
Changes in the cyber threat environment require the Army to be able to rapidly reprogram its own military software, a newly updated Army Regulation directs. “Warfare is rapidly moving into a new...
View ArticleIt’s a Plane: Visual Aircraft Recognition
The U.S. Army yesterday issued an updated manual to assist soldiers in identifying aircraft on the battlefield so as to determine whether they are friendly, hostile or something else. “Soldiers must be...
View ArticleDoD Use of Domestic Drones Complies with Law, IG Says
The domestic use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS, or drones) by the Department of Defense in support of civil authorities has been conducted in accordance with law and policy, the DoD Inspector General...
View Article“Climate Change” Enters the DoD Lexicon
The term “climate change” was included for the first time in the latest revision of the Department of Defense Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms (Joint Publication 1-02), published last week....
View ArticleDoD Again Seeks FOIA Exemption for Military Doctrine
The Department of Defense last week asked Congress to enact a new exemption from the Freedom of Information Act for military tactics, techniques and procedures, as well as rules of engagement, that are...
View ArticleIntelligence for Air and Missile Defense
A new U.S. Army manual addresses the challenges of intelligence support for air and missile defense programs. “A large number of adversary countries possess or are trying to acquire TBMs [tactical...
View ArticleNext U.S. National Military Strategy to be Classified
In a number of national security policy areas, there is a long-term trend in favor of greater transparency and disclosure. For example, the U.S. Army openly published a manual last week on Techniques...
View ArticleAir Force Updates Doctrine on Cyberspace Operations
Within living memory, even a passing mention of cyber weapons or U.S. offensive activities in cyberspace was deemed sufficient to justify national security classification. Now, although the Obama...
View ArticleQuestions for the Record: Arctic Camouflage
The camouflage netting used by the U.S. Army in the Arctic region is obsolete and ineffective, Army officials told Congress in response to a question for the record in a newly published hearing volume....
View ArticleHASC Favors Classified National Military Strategy
The forthcoming National Military Strategy, unlike previous versions of the Strategy, should be a classified document, the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) said in its markup of the FY2017 defense...
View ArticleDoD Biometric Collection, and More Military Doctrine
Department of Defense procedures for collecting biometric data are presented in a newly updated manual, which also provides some insight into the military and intelligence applications of such data....
View ArticleRed Teams Needed to Critique Military Operations
U.S. military commanders would do well to make use of “red teams” composed of independent experts to evaluate and critique U.S. military operations as they are being planned, according to a new...
View ArticleDefense Support of Civil Authorities: Overview
The conditions under which U.S. military capabilities can be brought to bear in domestic civilian affairs are explained in a new three–volume manual published last week by the Department of Defense. As...
View ArticleKnowing the Enemy: DoD Identity Activities
The Department of Defense is devoting increased attention to what it calls “identity activities,” which seek to identify individuals who may pose a threat on or off the battlefield. “Identity...
View ArticleAutonomous Military Technology at a “Tipping Point”
Autonomous military technologies that are capable of independently selecting a course of action to achieve a goal are maturing rapidly, the Defense Science Board said in a newly published study....
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